10 Strange American Traditions

Watching Super Bowl Commercials

Television commercials are typically a trial to be borne, but when it comes to Super Bowl commercials, that's not even close to the case. The vast majority of Super Bowl spectators are Americans, and they eagerly await breaks in the big game to see which commercials wow them the most [source: Rushin]. In the days that follow, those ads are debated and hashed over, rated and discussed, with gusto and ad nauseam, maybe even more than the sometimes lackluster game.

Which commercials cost the most to make? Which ones were surprisingly cheap? How much were the commercial slots sold for? The potential questions are endless. As for answers, in 2011, one of the most popular commercials was a Doritos ad that cost only about $500 to make. Altogether, around 60 commercials aired throughout the game, with prices up to $3 million for 30-second slots [source: Horovitz]. At $100,000 a second, advertisers are happy to fuel this particular American tradition of advertisement scrutiny.